


Winter Violets

by ShatteredSwallowtail



Series: Second Sunrise [9]
Category: Bleach
Genre: F/M, Gen, Genesis-verse, Second Sunrise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-07
Updated: 2019-09-07
Packaged: 2020-10-12 01:50:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20556242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShatteredSwallowtail/pseuds/ShatteredSwallowtail





	Winter Violets

"Do you miss her?"

It was a bit of a silly question, or at least that's what she thought to herself even as she spoke it, mentally chiding herself as she paused a few feet behind the figure half-sprawled across the soft grass, the shade cast by the tree casting shadows across ash-blonde hair, crazy-quilt hat sitting discarded by his side. His mother had just left that morning, slipping out into the early morning dawn as seamless as a shadow

Yuusuke simply shrugged his shoulders, shifting slightly to prop himself up on his elbows and tilt his head back, looking back upside down at the dark-haired figure standing behind him, red and white uniform stark contrast to the vibrant greens and yellows of the landscape.

He didn't really like the uniform, but that didn't have much to do with the fact that he just thought Hisana would have looked better in something different. It was just another reminder of something rigid, something regulated. The way everything in Soul Society was, and the reason why Yuusuke couldn't really have cared less for it's trappings.

Sitting up, he shrugged again and rested his elbows on his knees as he stared out over the town, the faint traces of sun glinting through the trees reflecting off the single gold hoop in one ear. He honestly didn't mind her question, and if he'd known she thought it silly he would have told her that was quite to the contrary.

"Nah. Not really."

A lie and yet not a lie, but then that was often the way things went when the topic turned to the one person who by all rights should have been a part of his life. Should have been, and yet wasn't. His own mother. One dark-skinned hand simply patted the grass beside him, a simple and wordless invitation for her company, waiting as the slight figure in red and white moved to sit beside him, curtain of dark hair spilling down her back.

Settling her feet beneath her, Hisana simply nodded her head and sat down beside him, folding small hands in her lap. She never really knew what to say to Yuusuke, and despite what she may have liked to believe, the petite girl knew perfectly well that it had little to do with the fact that she was simply more soft-spoken than her siblings.

She caught his momentary glance at her attire, suddenly conscious of the fact that she'd neglected to slip back into her body before searching him out. Feeling her cheeks warm slightly, she once again scolded herself mentally for being in such a rush, for getting ahead of herself and not thinking. She was acting too much like her sister.

"Really? But doesn't it bother you that she's not...."

Trailing off, she snapped her mouth shut, suddenly embarrassed. It wasn't her place, wasn't her job to ask these sorts of things, to pry into Yuusuke's business like that. What if it were hurtful, what if she asked something that brought up painful memories? Biting her lower lip, she began to frame a polite apology in her mind, reminding herself of the lessons her uncle Byakuya had schooled her in that spoke of how a well-born young lady was supposed to conduct herself. Lessons the rest of her siblings seemed hell-bent on ignoring. And was promptly cut off even as she opened her mouth by Yuusuke's chuckle.

"Not like a normal mom? No. She's just the way she is, it doesn't bother me. Besides, I know she'll come back some time."

Another lie that wasn't quite a lie. Part of it was true. That his mother was the way she was, definitely. That she would come back at some point, certainly. But that it didn't bother him... well, that part was a bit less true. Only, it was hard for him to explain, which was perhaps why he was thankful to a degree that he never really had to explain things to Kaien's little sister. Hisana wasn't like her sister, she was easier to get along with. Oh he liked Masaki well enough, but the older Kurosaki twin just didn't have that deep calm within that he could always sense in Hisana.

It was that feeling that his father always grinned at whenever he mentioned it, giving him that grin that told Yuusuke that the shop-owner was either plotting, or privy to some information that his thirteen-year old son wasn't. Which was a bit disconcerting to Yuusuke, mostly because he had learned that things his father knew that he didn't usually ended up being somewhat embarrassing for the subjects of said knowledge. Like the times Jinta'd tried to convince himself he could hide the sake when Hirako or Isshin came visiting. Those times when the bottles had mysteriously disappeared before the redhead even got to them.

As it was, he knew his father, just as well as he knew his mother. Leaning his head back, he closed his eyes for a moment, thinking back to the first time he'd ever even _met_ the woman who'd given birth to him. Sure, he'd heard stories of her, his father and Tessai and the others always talking and telling tales of "Yoruichi-san" and her exploits. It had been the middle of the night, and he'd been woken by something -- a nightmare, he surmised -- and had padded his way out onto the porch in his PJs, blonde hair askance, rubbing small dark fists into sleepy golden eyes, only to stop short in surprise at the sight of another pair of eyes that mimicked his so completely.

He'd simply blinked in surprise at first, not sure what to make of this lithe, female shape who'd stared at him with equally wide eyes, as though she herself wasn't quite certain that he was real. And then she'd smiled at him, albeit a little hesitantly, and squatted down in front of him to cock her dark head at him. He remembered the way she looked, the momentary thought that she was perhaps the prettiest girl he'd ever seen, with her dark tail of hair hanging over her shoulder in ebon waves in the dim light, golden eyes shining as she'd chuckled and ruffled his bangs with a grin, commenting that he must be Yuusuke.

That had been their first meeting, and he'd only later learned that the reason for her shocked expression had been the same one for the slightly wistful, almost regretful look in those eyes as her hand had rested on his head. As he'd learned later, when he asked his father, that the lovely and elusive woman was Shihouin Yoruichi. His mother.

Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that he'd never really had a mother before. He'd always known he _had_ one, it certainly wasn't as though his father had tried to hide that fact. Nor were questions regarding her some sort of taboo subject,, rather they were the stuff of bedtime stories. In a way, his mother had become some sort of fantastical mirage. Something real and yet unreal, and such that when he'd finally met her he couldn't decide whether he believed in the reality or not.

Or maybe it had more to do with the fact that, as his father had explained to him, he was so much _like_ his mother. He'd always just ignored it, brushed it aside with a child's customary practice when he'd heard Kisuke comment absently how much his son resembled the one woman he had ever -- and would ever -- truly love, but now that he'd met her, he'd sensed it as well. A "sameness", a strange kinship as if she was perhaps the only person who might have understood the strange, often fey way that he had of moving and drifting with the wind.

Either way, he'd simply accepted his mother, and after the first time he'd asked his father why she didn't live with them, he'd never asked it again. It had been the look in Kisuke's eyes, that momentary flash of regret and something else before his father had smiled that same easy grin and laughingly commented that Shihouin Yoruichi hadn't ever really called anyplace "home" that had told him what he needed to know. That his mother, for reasons that were her own, made her home on the wind.

And that was part of what it came down to. That he couldn't rely on reason, that he couldn't really even rely on _her_. It all ultimately came down to one thing. Belief. Because that ultimately was all that he had. The belief that stood strong on the knowledge that, regardless of what anyone else may have thought, may have said... she loved him. And that, in her own way, she was being as much of a mother as she really could.

Others had tried to dissuade him, tried to convince him otherwise. He understood, at least he had when he'd gotten a little older. Understood that they only did it out of caring, out of concern for the possibility that he might pin his hopes on a fragile butterfly of a chance, a painted image of the three of them, sitting around the porch, one happy little family. Only to see that bright, hopeful image shatter into a million crystalline shards around him. But then... they obviously didn't know Yuusuke very well. If they had... then they'd know that of all the things he'd gotten from his father, an unshakable faith in Shihouin Yoruichi was resting right amidst the irrepressible charm and insatiable curiosity. She would come back. And he would believe in her.

"Yuusuke-kun?"

Yuusuke blinked golden eyes in momentary surprise as the soft voice drew him out of his momentary reverie. Glancing around, from Hisana's slightly concerned face to the sun that was significantly deeper in the sky than it had been, he realized with some surprise how long he must have been sitting there. Shaking his head, he grinned and shook his head.

"Ah, sorry. I spaced out for a moment, must have been boring for you."

Shaking her head, Hisana kept hazel eyes slightly downcast, fingers twisting slightly in the ties of her hakama. No, it hadn't been boring. Nothing Yuusuke said or did was ever really boring to her. If anything, she'd enjoyed simply sitting here in silence with him, watching him stare vacantly off into space, lost in his own thoughts that so excluded her. Granted, she'd have loved to be included in them, but that wasn't really so important. Mostly, she was just glad to be near him, quietly braiding chains of the little flowers that grew in clumps on the hill, the pile of winter-violet blooms that she'd gathered grown smaller as the minutes had ticked slowly by.

"No, it... I didn't mind."

And it was true, she didn't. Just as she never minded spending time with Yuusuke, stolen though she often felt it was. Carefully glancing to the side, she waited until he wasn't looking and slipped the braided crown of violets around the brim of his patched corduroy hat. Hopefully he wouldn't notice.

Whether he did or not, she'd have to keep guessing at, as he simply plunked one long-fingered hand down on top of the hat and picked it up, plopping it on top of his blond head with a typical Yuusuke grin before getting to his feet and sticking out a hand to her. Hisana stared at it for a moment, feeling her cheeks heat up as her eyes widened slightly. Before she could summon up voice to timidly refuse, he'd already grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet before turning and loping off, tossing a grin over his shoulder.

"Come on, let's go."

Hisana stood, frozen for just a moment before she simply nodded, hesitant smile on her face, and darted after him.


End file.
